debatechick's blog

Has anyone else noticed that as the quality of films has went down, the amount of films being thrown at us has gone up? It is true that in the past there were a small number of films produced each year because of technology restraints, and therefore producers also took more time to ensure films' quility, since production costs were more expensive than they are today, but just becasue we have the ability to do something does not mean we should do it. When I was a kid, jeez now I feel old-Im only 17, movies played in theatres for about 3 months. Then there was a period of about 6 months after that before the movie came on VHS. Maybe it just seemed like a long time between the viewing period and release date because I was young, but this is a trend I have been noticing for several years, and Brokeback's upcoming release date further confirms my suspicions.  Read More »

While critics have condemned Bush’s policies in Iraq, nothing about his meeting with NATO president General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer should be denounced. Bush met with Scheffer today to discuss the possibility of NATO replacing the AU as the leading coalition in Sudan. The Bush administration has praised NATO’s leadership in Afghanistan and Iraq and encourages NATO to become more involved in Sudan in hopes of making the transition from coalition led forces to UN PKO smoother.  Scheffer agreed that NATO would better be able to handle the transition from coalition to PKO. "I am quite sure, as I told the president, that when the U.N. comes, the NATO allies will be ready to do more in enabling the United Nations force in Darfur," he said. Although today’s meeting was a step in the right direction, the ball is now in the AU’s court. Bush told VOM that the African Union must formally request a transfer of peacekeeping responsibilities before any outside forces can act. "If that is done, NATO can move in with United States' help - inside of NATO - to make it clear to the Sudanese government that we are intent upon providing security for the people there, and intent upon helping work toward a lasting peace agreement."  Read More »

 Pedophilia is a disease, not an adjective which should be used to describe people. Just like any other disease or mental illness, pedophilia cannot be cured by jail time. Even those sex offenders who have redeemed themselves still need supervision and counseling; not as an embarrassment, but rather as a precaution. If they truly want to change, it is in their best interest, not to mention society’s, to help them in these ways so they do not to fall back into their old practices. Unfortunately, law makers seem to be unable to grasp the concept that pedophilia is a mental illness. Kenneth Hinson’s recent arrest stands to prove this point even further.  Read More »

Although the University of Kansas has a predominately underclassman basketball team and started off on the wrong foot this season, KU fans, and even non-fans, had come to expect more from the team than what was given in last night's first round NCAA game. At the beginning of the season the team lost several games they should have won, their youth showing against predominately upperclassmen teams, who were not better skill wise, but had more experience mentally. Then, in the middle of the season, it seemed KU's basketball team had an ephipany or some sort and begin to show the enthusiasm and drive the school has been known for in the past. Somehow, they worked their way up to 4 seed in their division. KU also shocked the nation by winning the their big 10 tournament last weekend. It had seemed the Jayhawks were on the road to recovery after losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament last year to underdog team Bucknell. Well, to make a long story short KU continued its new found tradition this year, losing in the first round, while Bucknell won their game. Sickening.  Read More »

Everytime I follow the instrutions to insert a picure, it doesnt show up, there is just a big box where the picture should be and in the left hand corner this is a small box with a red x in it. AHHHGGG!!! What have I done wrong, ye bloggers who are wiser than I! Or when I try to save it and add it as an attachment, nothing! Im so frustrated!

In an ABC News Primetime Special, host Jay Schadler and a Yale economics professor, Barry Nalebuff, test out “Game Theory,” the idea that your success depends on what other people do. “Game Theory” was created by John Nash, the mathematician featured in "A Beautiful Mind," who won the Nobel Prize for his work in game theory. To test game theory, ABC created two separate games, one called “Mission Impossible,” and the other called “Lose the Weight, or Wear the Bikini on TV.” In the first challenge, six couples were strategically placed in New York and given instructions to find another group of people within the city that would also be looking for them. Each couple was given one-hundred dollars to help them in their endeavor and sent on their way with an ABC camera man and no further instructions. Neither members of the couple had met previously, increasing the chances of different approaches. Likewise the couples were not told anything about the genders, races, etc… of the other couple they were looking for. The game was literally like finding a needle in a haystack. In game number two, ABC tests another part of game theory which Thomas Shelling won the Nobel Prize for expanding.  Game two was based on the idea that if people absolutely know something bad will happen if they do not cooperate, then they will comply.  The threat?  If they did not lose fifteen pounds in two months, ABC would exploit pictures of them in a tiny bathing suit on the internet and on primetime television.  This was the most fascinating television show I have watched in a long time.  Read More »

Until now, the United States had been lucky, evading the avaian influenza, and praying that it would never reach our continent. But just like in WWII, our false hopes will soon be shattered; if a problem afflicts the rest of the world, sooner or later it will ineveitably affect America too. "We think that H5N1 (strain of bird flu virus) will reach the United States in autumn," Sergei Dankvert, a Russian scientist, told Reuters.  Although the scientist could very well be wrong, he supports his claims well. "This is very realistic. We may be almost certain this will happen after this strain is found in Great Britain, before autumn, as migrating birds will carry it to the United States from there." He also explains another route in which the disease might be integrated into the United States, explaining that it could spread from the opposite direction, beginning in Alaska, heading towards Canada and, eventually, the US.   Read More »

This is a question for anyone who knows the answer. I am not sure how to put a picture into a post, or link one for that matter. Copy and paste does not work. I know how to link text to news articles, but not pictures, and I am really wondering how. The first person who gives me the correct answer, IE it works on my computer, will be ...my new best friend? lol.

Thanks for the help!  ~debatechick~